It will be great to have a full-fledged women’s IPL: Jemimah Rodrigues

The Indian women's side is one of the most talented group of cricketers. Jemimah Rodrigues is a name that definitely pops-up from this list. The young batswoman made a name herself when she became the second women’s cricketer after Smriti Mandhana to score a double ton in a 50-over match. For her consistent performances in the domestic circuit, she was awarded the Jagmohan Dalmiya Award For Best Domestic Junior Women's Cricketer of the year 2017-18 by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The 19-year-old believes that a full-fledged women's IPL will make a difference in discovering new talent like Shefali Verma. She also gave examples of the Australian Big Bash, the ECB's Kia Super League, and New Zealand's Super Smash, who have a dedicated women's tournaments that has helped them do well in International cricket.

“If you see, the Big Bash and the Kia Super League have developed the game out there so much for Australia, England and now even New Zealand has started to do better. That’s (IPL) definitely going to develop the game and it’s also going to give new talent,” the 19-year-old said on ICC’s ‘100% Cricket’ show.

“We came to know about Shafali Verma through the T20 Challenge, she did so well there. We knew she could do well in the domestic circuit. But playing against international players and being that fearless person is something different. We can get many more talents rising up playing such matches,” she added.

She further explained benefits of having a full-fledged women’s IPL and believes that it can help players improve their game as well as help increase the bench strength of the national side.

“Playing matches in front of a huge crowd is a different experience. That’s going to help us play well in international cricket. And above all, the experience we are going to get sharing the dressing room with Sophie Devine, Meg Lanning is huge. We will get to learn so much. It will be great to have a women’s IPL, the BCCI are on it and hopefully, soon we will be having a proper women’s IPL," she explained.

Jemimah Rodrigues signed off by stating: “It makes a lot of difference you can go in with five bowlers in the side relying on the fact that one of them will get an extra over. If anyone fails you can add up even to your batting order. I think it makes a lot of difference, especially at crucial moments . When a bowler can win the match for you there is nothing like it. I believe bowlers win matches for us.”